An Unexpected Journey, Indeed
by The Grey Mile
Summary: Amelia finds herself launched from her world into another by a string of fate, or could it have been an accidental case of magic? Armed with nothing but her pajamas, blanket, and running skills, she must figure out where she is and how to get back; hopefully not losing her sanity on the way. It's kind of hard to make friends when people think you're crazy.
1. Chapter 1

_Here, have a disclaimer. My stories are written for fun._  
_The only bit that's mine are the OCs._

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**Chapter 1: In Which Amelia has a Rather Rude Awakening**

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Amelia Finch had always been a good runner. She might not have been the fastest on her high school track team, but no one denied that her endurance level made her one of the top five of the female athletes and number twelve when compared to the boys and girls teams combined. If someone had told her that she should consider herself lucky she was good at running, Amelia would have laughed and shook her head, reminding them she didn't see any reason to consider skill luck. It was from hard work and perseverance that anyone got better at something.

It was this opinion that quickly changed when she found herself running from something that definitely belonged only in the movies. Preferably not children's ones, unless your intent was scaring the kid into a blubbering mess. Amelia certainly felt lucky she was able to outpace the giant creature crashing through the trees behind her.

Being chased by something that had her terrified made it difficult to believe it wasn't really there, even though its existence had only shown up in stories before. Before tonight she never would have imagined being chased by a troll. Or at least another monster ugly enough where it could be considered one. Amelia didn't really know much about fantasy to really tell what it was for certain. The only thing she knew at the moment was it was that it looked pissed off, was gaining on her and smelled awful.

This definitely hadn't been a good way to wake up. First off there'd been that weird electrical problem in her room with the lights turning on by themselves and then having trouble deciding if they would stay on or off with alarming frequency. Then had come that horrid feeling of being pulled in on herself, as if someone was trying to fit her into a tiny box with needles lining the walls. Amelia couldn't remember if the lights had turned off and the feeling had stopped, letting her fall asleep, or if she'd fainted and been unconscious, so what happened afterward was a little foggy. Considering she'd woken up with a headache, Amelia guessed it had been the latter.

Finding out she was no longer in her room and was instead surrounded by trees in the near dark wearing only her pajamas and a blanket half draped across her knees was a little harder to deal with, and the panicked scream that followed had undoubtably brought on the troll.

She cursed as she tripped over a hidden root in her distraction, it didn't help that she was unable to make out much of anything in the dark. Wasting precious time to glare back at where that stupid root was, or maybe a couple of feet off since it was difficult to make out many details, Amelia then scrambled to her feet.

_'Crap, crap, crap.'_ Amelia's thoughts had turned into an unintended mantra, her brain blanking out on any ideas on how to ditch the troll-thing chasing after her. How to escape something that looked like it wanted to kill you and most likely couldn't be bargained with wasn't exactly a subject taught in school. Amelia wasn't even sure it would be taught anywhere, except maybe by really paranoid, and possibly crazy, people.

She'd almost run into a tree several times in her panic, and had lost her blanket in the process. A low hanging branch had managed to smack her in the face, adding to her collection of scratches. At this point, Amelia was just focused on getting away, not really thinking on where she was running.

The sounds of pursuit had gotten quieter. Somehow she'd managed to put a little extra distance between herself and the troll. Trying to ignore the nagging wish to glance over her shoulder to see how close it had gotten, she kept her eyes peeled for anything that looked like it might be a good hiding place. Maybe it wasn't the best plan, but it was all she could come up with at the moment.

Tripping again was probably the best thing that had happened to her that night.

It sent her flying forward into some bushes that had grown clumped up together near the path. After flailing around to get loose and landing on the ground with a thump, she saw that a group of bushes and trees next to the ones she'd fallen into had what looked like a small tunnel heading into its center. Deciding that it was likely the only chance she was going to get, Amelia crawled over to the opening and forced herself in, ignoring the sharp pokes from twigs.

The thicket wasn't a bad hiding place. A few young trees had worked their way in, providing pretty good overhead cover. The bushes were pretty thick and made it difficult to see out. Something that was always good when you needed to hide from something, because it was much less likely whatever hunted you could see in. Whatever had used it before was probably a small animal, there was enough space for her to curl up and maybe move around a little, but that was pretty much it.

Amelia put a hand over her mouth to try to silence her shaky breaths as the troll finally caught up with her, crashing through the brush next to her hiding place as it continued its chase. It was lucky for her that trolls were pretty stupid, and she'd managed to stay quiet enough that it hadn't noticed her in its haste, even though it had muttered under its breath as it crashed past her about how nothing was easy to catch any more and its a shame the farmer was gone. Mutton was much easier to catch, even if there was never enough meat on them.

At least thirty minutes had gone by before Amelia felt it was okay to move again. Stretching her cramped muscles hurt now that the adrenaline rush was almost all but gone. All her aches and pains were starting to appear, along with the reality that she was no longer safe at home. It was still too dark to really see much of her surroundings. The only thing she'd been able to decide on was that there were a lot of trees which meant a forest, and that there were monstrous... things here that smelled awful and tried to kill you.

_'I bet Stephen would have known what it was... He's always talking about those one books with monsters in them. I wouldn't know if it was a troll or an ogre.'_ Amelia frowned as she thought about it. Maybe it had been something else. It hadn't been a subject she paid much attention to other than remembering one of the main characters fenced. Not that it helped her in her current situation. She didn't know the first thing about fencing and doubted it would have been of any use against the troll. It probably would have used the foil to pick its teeth after eating her. Or maybe use it to roast meat as an improvised shish-kebob.

Either way, she now regretted the loss of her blanket and shivered, curling up in her found shelter after she'd snapped a few of the more annoying twigs to prevent them from poking her in the sides. It didn't work as well as she'd hoped, but it made the small enclosure slightly more manageable. Taking a worried glance through the thicket to try to see if there was anything else out there, Amelia considered looking for her blanket in the morning. It really could be anywhere. She had no idea how far she'd been chased or in what direction and frankly, she was too exhausted to figure it out tonight.

She wasn't even sure what had happened and was still convinced it was a dream. A very realistic, terrifying dream. One that she'd really like to wake up from. But no amount of pinching or poking that was theoretically supposed to wake you up from one worked. Amelia was still curled up in the middle of a thicket in the middle of the woods, with only her t-shirt and baggy pants. And as far as she knew, she was all alone, trapped in this nightmarish realm.

Amelia did the only thing she could do. She cried.

_'...I don't even know where I am...'_ she thought, occasionally wiping tears from her face. They continued to fall no matter what she did, grateful that her sobbing was quiet. She didn't want that thing to come back and find her. Her body trembled slightly as the cold air settled in, doing its best to keep her warm.

_'...I'm not going to die out here. I'm going to make it back home.'_ Amelia promised herself as she tried to get some rest._ 'I'm going to figure a way out of this mess. I've got to...'_

Sleep didn't come easy. Now that the troll had been gone for a while the inhabitants of the woods active at night were going about their daily lives, causing what seemed like a never-ending track of unfamiliar sounds that made her jump until total exhaustion kicked in and she was pulled into unconsciousness once more.

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**A/N: Bear with me folks, it's been a good several years since I've tried getting a story written down, so I feel pretty rusty. If you guys want to leave me some constructive criticism that'd be helpful, since I'm pretty sure my grammar is shot. There's always room for improvement, either way.**

**I know the "girl chucked into ME" is used a bunch, and more often than not turns into a Mary Sue, or at least something that can be rather horrific to read. I've been a big lurker and reader here (I do admit this is my favorite plot twist, though it's more from the angle of something unexpected happening in life and what is more unexpected than getting tossed into a new world with no warning?) for a few years - okay, more than a few - and I'd like to give back to the community. **

**So here's this little tidbit. If you liked it at all, please leave a review. Any sort of encouragement helps when trying to gather up enough motivation to write the next chapter. It actually tells me if there's going to be any point in writing the rest of the story. I won't feel as inclined to write for you guys if I don't feel there's any interest. **

**I'd also like the include a little shout out to one of the most amazing and hilarious fanfics I've read in years, it is quite possibly the main reason I've been working on writing again.**

**I feel everyone should read _The Skipper_, by _LinzRW_ at least once (and I believe new chapters are still being worked on).**

**So if you enjoyed my story, chances are you'll love this one far more.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Here, have a disclaimer. My stories are written for fun._  
_The only bit that's mine are the OCs._

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**Chapter 2: In Which Amelia decides This is No Fairy Tale**

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The sun was high in the sky by the time Amelia woke up the next morning, its rays of light filtering down through the leaves of the canopy. The sunlight was able to reach the ground better where the trees were more set apart, creating a shifting mosaic on the forest floor. If there had been a few playful animals hopping about and birds singing in the trees, Amelia would have thought she'd been taken from her nightmare and placed in a children's movie, the kind with princesses that were always rescued from evil step-mothers.

Except there wasn't any sign of life other than a few birds she'd decided were definitely not songbirds. They chittered and chirped annoyingly, but she didn't think they'd sound so happy if there had been danger nearby. She really hoped that was the case. Having a run-in with that monster last night had terrified her enough. And it didn't seem as if the sun would stay visible for long. Clouds were starting to appear on the horizon, some of them already trying to block the sun from view before getting pushed on by the air currents.

She hissed through clenched teeth when she started to stretch, as much as she could, within the confines of the thicket. Sleeping curled up like that had left her with limbs that had fallen asleep and were now being attacked by thousands of pins and needles. Moving had suddenly not become an option. Not when every little movement sent a fresh tingling stab down her limbs.

The longer she sat there half-stretched out, the more uncomfortable it became until she eventually gritted her teeth at the pain and slowly worked her way through the small tunnel to the outside. Amelia wanted nothing more than to flop onto a bed after having spent the night being poked at uncomfortably all night by the many twigs and roots of the thicket. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option now, so she hobbled over to a tree and sat down, leaning against it and stretching out her legs.

Now that it was daylight it was a lot easier to see all the small cuts and scratches she'd gotten from running blind in the dark. She now had an assortment of them on her hands and arms, particularly the palms from where she'd caught herself when she'd tripped. It looked like a few places were beginning to bruise as well. There were a few nicks on her feet, but for the most part they were just extremely sore from having run through the woods barefoot. A quick check revealed a couple of scratch marks on her face as well.

"Just as well I didn't break anything," she remarked, now finished with her check-up. It felt good to speak out loud, now that it was apparent nothing else was nearby. It helped her get her thoughts in order, even if it made her feel ridiculous speaking to herself. "Okay... So, I'm somewhere in the middle of nowhere, probably lost. There's the things from Stephen's books wandering around... I'm in my pajamas. This better be a really elaborate prank, I swear to god." Amelia groaned and looked around the small clearing, banging her head back against the tree in exasperation. Nothing looked familiar, not even trees.

Her stomach chose this moment to voice its complaint.

"Guess I better see what kind of food I can find... Hopefully there's some kind of berries or whatever around here." Amelia sighed, using the tree as a support to help her stand up. It was a little difficult to get moving when your muscles were slightly cramped from sleeping oddly.

She set off walking in a random direction, hoping that whatever lay that way wasn't the type of thing that wanted to eat her and that she'd be able to find food soon. If she'd paid attention to the ground, Amelia might have noticed that she was heading almost the same direction as the troll.

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Amelia had decided that she really hated rain.

It was difficult to enjoy being rained on when you knew there wasn't a dry house or storefront you could dash into. Walking had become extremely tiring and she'd already slipped on the squishy ground and fallen in the mud several times. The only consolation she got from this was that she'd stumbled across her blanket, having gotten turned around in the woods several times and had managed to wander back to the point of the forest where the troll had started chasing her. Either the troll hadn't seen her blanket or it didn't think quilts were worth picking up.

Whatever the reason, it meant Amelia had found something that linked her with home; and that was both comforting and making her feel homesick. It also meant that she now had at least some protection from the rain and mud, even though the blanket had been soaked through and some of the muck had worked its way into the fabric as the downpour continued, leaving grimy trails as it clung to her.

She just knew she needed to keep moving. The last few times Amelia had stopped, she'd eventually curled up with her blanket wrapped around her and cried. It wasn't as though she'd meant to start crying, she'd just kind of stared off into the distance and thought about home and well, things went from there. Amelia had found the more she walked, the easier it was to keep her mind from home; it also helped her ignore her growing hunger. The small raspberry bush she had found earlier before the rain had started didn't exactly provide a filling meal.

Amelia also felt like she'd been walking forever. With the clouds so diligently blocking the sun from view, something she found very annoying, Amelia had no way of trying to guess what time it was. The sky had remained a sullen grey ever since the clouds had finished rolling in. That and the clouds were creating this downpour as well. Everything was so soaked that she bet someone could go over to a tree, peel off some of the bark, and wring it out like a sponge.

Another look up at the sky made her squint her eyes suspiciously. Either the clouds had gotten thicker and were blocking out more light or the sun was starting to go down. _'Just my luck...'_ she thought, still looking upwards and not paying attention to where she was walking. As if bad luck wanted to prove a point, her lack of attention meant she stepped into a particularly deep mud puddle with a squelch. Suddenly forced into a small wrestling match to free her legs, Amelia was glad that she was barefoot, since she probably would have lost her shoes to the deep mud had she been wearing them.

It had come at a price. All of her flailing had nearly covered her from head to toe with mud, though the majority of it was on her blanket. You could barely make out any of its design or colors now.

"Ugh! Stupid mud, stupid rain!" she muttered under her breath in frustration, making a point to put more of her anger into the word 'stupid' and feeling slightly better afterward. Amelia stomped over to a nearby tree and used it as a prop, attempting to shake the mud from her legs one at a time. A few tiny globs flung off, but the rest was sticking to her skin stubbornly.

Making a disgusted face every time the mud squelched in-between her toes as she away from the tree, Amelia searched out a spot where the rain had more coverage and sat down, careful to pick a grassy spot instead of more mud. With the help of the rain she was able to wash off most of the mud from her body. Some still clung persistently to her clothes and blanket, but at least she was relatively muck free for now.

The effort of having walked most of the day on little food had finally reached a point it was hard to ignore. With all the rain that was coming down there had been plenty of fresh water for her to drink, she merely had to cup her hands out in front of her and wait for the rain to fill them up. It had been slow going as the water would drip through the openings her fingers left, but in the end it had helped keep her thirst down.

Having enough water to drink just wasn't cutting it anymore and despite how uncomfortable the ground was, as well as being rained on, Amelia wished to go to sleep right where she was. And she probably would have if the wind hadn't started up. Now spurred on to find a placed to hide from the wind, Amelia got up and started her search.

It was slowly getting darker, but at least the wind was pushing the storm clouds further south and the rain had gotten softer and softer until the only drops that fell where from the wind shaking the remaining water from the trees. Now that the clouds had started to disappear from the sky it was clear night was coming on, and the wandering moon that rose above the hills between remaining clouds offered a little light to help her see.

Amelia guessed that the clouds must have blocked it last night, since the forest had been much darker before. Still, it was easier to see where she was going now and didn't take her much longer to find a spot that proved to be an efficient wind-breaker.

A few slabs of broken rock, the rough edges weathered down by time, stuck up haphazardly from the ground surrounded by a few trees. Several shrubs grew in the cracks and near the base, though it hadn't been too difficult to push them aside and find a place to sit. So long as the wind continued to come from one direction, the rocks blocked most of it.

It didn't mean she wasn't still cold. Sitting around in wet clothes on the wet ground didn't help, and she found her teeth starting to chatter as the chill set in. Amelia rubbed her arms and legs, attempting to create enough friction to raise her body heat just the tiniest bit. Anything would be better than being cold. Her blanket wasn't much use at the moment, it was soaked through, too. But she kept it wrapped around her anyway, hoping that it would dry off eventually.

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Amelia wasn't sure when she'd managed to fall asleep, but a loud thump from somewhere behind her had startled her awake. Trying to blink the sleep from her eyes, she listened for the sound again, hoping it had been nothing. Just her mind playing tricks. Or maybe one of those dreams you have that wakes you up and you can't tell if what had happened was from the dream or from real life.

She was sorely disappointed.

Voices had drifted toward her from beyond her rock shelter, though they were low and difficult to make out. There was movement, too. It sounded like something was being set down or arranged, followed by another sound and a howl of pain.

"William, yer idjiot! Yer near smashed me finger off, settin' down the log on it like that!" yelled a rough voice, followed by another thud. He must have dropped the log.

"No I didn't! It's yer own fault not movin' out o' the way fast enough." said another, clearly sounding annoyed at the accusation. "An' stop swinging yer mitts around and get the fire goin'."

"Bert's s'posed to do that. Where'd he get off to?" the first voice replied. He only got a grunt in response. "Anyway, it's yer job t' cook, make the fire yerself."

"I still gots t' bring down the mutton, or had yer forgot?" said William. "An' no buggering off while I'm gone. Bert mus' be a-gathering wood for the fire. He's around, anycase." This was followed by a heavy set of footsteps walking away from the camp and Amelia's hiding place. It sounded like the other voice decided it wasn't worth arguing, as they'd started to do something around the camp.

However, Amelia had shrunk into a tighter, terrified ball under her blanket the more the two trolls had argued, hand clamped over her mouth again in an attempt to muffle any cries that came from her mouth.

She had recognized the first voice.

It had been the troll-thing that had chased her last night.

And now it appeared she'd run into him again, only this time there were two more. The thing that troubled her more was that there was supposed to be a third and neither the first troll nor the second knew exactly where he was.

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**A/N: Thank you guys for giving my story a chance. It may not seem like much to you, but to wake back up a few hours after posting the first chapter to find that I had two followers _plus_ two favorites was so motivating I had to sit down and write some more that instant. If I hadn't been so determined to try keeping a schedule with this story you guys would have gotten this chapter last Wednesday.**

**Speaking of keeping a schedule, I'm going to try to get new chapters uploaded on a Monday each week. It may not last, since work usually gets busier over the holidays, but I'll try. Since it's been a few years since I've really written, I've tried to keep the chapters between 1,500 and 2,000 words so I don't get overwhelmed. Thankfully it's been working so far. This chapter even went a little over 2,100 words from my ****enthusiasm and I would have kept writing, but I felt it was at a point where I could start on the next chapter instead. Unfortunately.. some crappy thing called life happened, so I've been unable to get started on writing the next chapter.  
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**Sorry for leaving you guys with another cliffhanger, but at least it won't be much longer before some familiar characters show up besides the trolls.**

**I'd also like to thank _koryandrs_, _Pamela_, and_ Mignun_ for their reviews. You guys helped me get this chapter written.**


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